When cars arrived at the south side of the park, anxious witnesses gathered to describe what happened. One woman, keyed up and arms covered in the victims blood, described it like this: two guys got in a beef over a girl, one punched the other, the other stabbed him and everyone scattered. The puncher managed to get on his bike and ride away, the stabber fled in the confusion.
As a pair of officers took down the witness accounts, black and whites circled the neighborhood, on the lookout for the suspect, a male Latino wearing blue Dickies shorts, a blue hat and a white t-shirt and the victim, also a male Latino wearing blue denim shorts and a white shirt.

Slightly before 8 p.m., cops in a Devonshire black-and-white spotted a red 10-speed parked several blocks from the park in front of 7926 Jordan Ave. A few yards in front of it, someones nose poked up from the bed of a parked Toyota pickup truck. The coppers jumped out to investigate and found the nose belonged to 19-year-old Francisco Gutierrez, whose dirty white t-shirt had hiked far enough up his stomach to reveal a bloody stab wound.

He was unresponsive and not breathing and they broadcast for help. Cars poured in and an LAFD crew rolled. An officer by the name of Hong shook Gutierrez until he awoke and the wounded teenager began to suck down air in panicked, shallow breaths.

Gutierrez gasped out the story. Hed been at the park, enjoying a warm summer night and looked at some girl. She turned out to be some other guys lady and the two men traded words. A fight ensued. Gutierrez managed to clock the guy in the head, then the other man pulled a knife and cut open his belly. He ran to his bike and fled, making it several blocks before taking shelter in the bed of the truck.

He shifted around uncomfortably and cursed his assailant. Hong reached over to check his wound.

Gutierrez heaved a few more raspy breaths and squirmed. His chest settled back into its shallow rhythm. The fire engines appeared down the street and the cops waved their arms.

The medics hopped out of their rig, climbed into the bed and got an IV going. They cut off his t-shirt, revealing his marijuana leaf tattoo, the suspenders he used to keep on the oversized shorts and the hole in his belly. They checked him for other wounds, cut off the rest of his clothes and hefted him onto a gurney. A cop collected the scraps of clothes and white sneakers stained brown with blood.

Another gang officer arrived and identified the victim as a CPA known as Cisco, who had some anger issues. Hed been locked up before and they were surprised to see him back on the street so quickly. They took down his address, one got in the ambulance and the rest packed up.

The ambulance pulled away to take Cisco to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where it looked like hed probably be OK. Another cop packed his bike into the trunk of a cruiser to return it to his Alabama Avenue apartment. And the kids kept playing in the park, under the full moon, like nothing had happened at all.